61-Year-Old Company Re-Invents Itself with FDM

Established as Master Mold & Die in 1950 by Jack Thompson, Thogus Products (Thogus) is a 61-year-old manufacturing company foundationally rooted in injection molding. In 1997, 56% of sales came from automotive clients. A decade later, feeling the pressure of a poor economy and recognizing the threat of limited diversification, Thogus decided to search for new sources of revenue.

By the time Matt Hlavin, grandson of Jack Thompson, became president
of Thogus in 2008, he had been following Stratasys – a maker of additive manufacturing machines for prototyping and producing plastic parts – for nearly 10 years. Intrigued by the product development capabilities of Stratasys technology, Hlavin had found his solution and a direction for Thogus. Hlavin decided to shift Thogus’ focus to small-volume molding and highly engineered materials using Stratasys Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) systems.